Hi, here is the latest news about the Green Man in Thriplow.

Things are generally going to plan on our project and we are almost ready to use the new toilets (which are beginning to look very nice). We are a little late on this because when the builders dug to make the foundations for the new extension, we found there were no foundations for the existing rear walls – so these had to be added! We have already started the second phase of building work where we are building the new staircase and removing the existing toilets and staircase. In addition, we will be re-roofing and extending various back-of-house rooms like the cellar, kitchens and stores. The new layout will stand us in good stead for the long term and will transform the pub. A volunteer party emptied the kitchen of its equipment one day last week – thanks to Doug Collyer, Greg Elgar, John Rimmer, Suzanne Larque, Terry Smith and Lisa turner for doing this in double quick time. And thanks to David Easthope for doing the architectural design work and to PAS Builders who are doing a great job for us.

We have now run the pub for a whole quarter and we’ve had lots of happy and busy evenings, the pub is such a happy place when it is full - if you have attended any of these evenings you will know what we mean. Having emptied the kitchen and released our agency chef, we no longer have any means of catering for food service, and this will continue to be the case until we handover to Ben and Alex. We will be able to make simple food for some evenings but these will be carefully planned and advertised, in the meantime we are happy to let you order takeaways to be delivered to you in the pub if you and your party wish to eat.

We will continue to run the pub until the building work is completed - this is likely to be until the end of March. We could not even consider doing this without the magnificent performance of Diane, our manager. Diane has been invaluable in our efforts, taking care of day-to-day affairs, stock and customer service. She has been ably assisted by Jade, Scarlett and Liv, and our heartfelt thanks go to each of these lovely people.

Remember though that WE STILL NEED YOUR CUSTOM! We are open and will remain so for January at least although we may have to close sometime in February - we will keep you posted on this. It is only through your custom that we can hope to minimise the losses that we will undoubtedly make during the next 2-3 months. Please support us during this period of change. We will be open our usual times (lunch and evening Tuesday thru Saturday and Sunday lunchtime, we are open from 6pm on Friday evenings).

Separately, but very importantly, we still need more shareholders and we are still open to more local people, or those connected with the pub in some way, investing in our pub. Please consider whether you can put aside a little (more) money to invest in us – we are very happy to discuss our plans with anyone interested, just contact Kevin on ck.clarke@PROTECTED or on Royston 208727 for more information. You know that you have always wanted to own a pub – here is your chance!

Happy New Year to you all and let’s hope we see you in the pub some time soon.

Nigel, Mark, Caroline, Mary and Kevin